Missile Plume Analysis and Modeling for Generation of Missile Profiles Used in Missile Warning

Threat signature phenomenology plays an increasingly important role in the development of a wide variety of missile warning technologies, both at the tactical and strategic levels. There has been a recent proliferation of the number of missiles developed that use trajectory-shaping maneuvers as a method of range and flight profile control. This trend is also driven by the desire for advanced operational capabilities such as more accurate placement of warheads, performing evasive maneuvers and dogleg trajectories to defeat missile defense systems. CRAFT Tech will develop tools that will provide instantaneous knowledge of the angle of attack to support accurate state vector estimation for a missile warning system, and also for post-flight trajectory reconstruction performed by technical intelligence analysts. Another pressing development has been the recent testing and flight demonstration by adversary nations of highly maneuverable delivery systems such as hypersonic glide vehicles that fly non-ballistic trajectories. They pose a particularly potent challenge since they have dim optical signatures that arise predominantly due to the effects of hard body heating with very low wake emissions in the traditional IR bands. CRAFT Tech will develop high fidelity modeling tools to characterize their electro-optical signatures and help support development of tracking tools.